Fragrant beyond boundaries.....
1947....seventy years since independence....freedom from the foreign rule....Studied in History at school and maybe by some in colleges.... Remenbered with cliched patrotic songs and functions year after year....and then??? Oblivion....till next year when the day comes again to get on with the routine.
How many of us have understood the pathos of the India's struggle for independence or even thought about the trauma of the partition? How many of us even try to find out what must have transpired during the entire period of the struggle for independence and what all followed during the tumultuous period? What happens when one is able to see, meet and hear senior citizens in their eighties, nineties and even hundred who are victims of the parttion and had to migrate out of Pakistan to India for no fault of theirs, so suddenly for the sake of administrative convenience? Yes see, hear and meet people of that era and undergo a catharsis.
On a bright and pleasant Sunday morning i had the opportunity to attend a function at Kurukshetra in Haryana in honour of those who had come back from Pakistan to India during the partition. Sumedha Kataria, the Deputy Commissioner and DM of Kurukshetra, a colleague during training at the IAS Academy at Mussourie and now my confidante had organised a cosy function at her residence inviting about 40 persons who had come back from Pakistan and settled in India after the partition. The gathering included officials, friends and well-wishers who also got inititated into the past with the screening of 2 beautiful films. One " Gajab ke log" which was a tribute by the Kataria sisters to their parents and the second was a film on people affected by the partition, Yaadein1947 made by Keshav Mahta. As the film.unfolded we could hear many senior citizens sharing their experience of the difficulties during the exodus from Pakistan, the problems of finding their feet in India and settling back again, their anguish of being uprooted from their own homes, the yearning to be back, the pinings for the unruptured past. Their words revelaed the wounds in their heart and the scars in their minds.
What touched our hearts was the never die spirit which each one of them had. It also reflected on the passion and desire of a simple film maker like Keshav to reach out to the few of the golden oldies who may perhaps be the last human link to that era. Sooner or later they would be gone forever and with them their tales and stories. The making of this film is therefore a treasure. The sensitivity with which the film has tackled the subject is touching specially when one of them calls a person at Pakistan to know about his then home. With thoughts curated superbly the film makes people talk and put forth their emotions on this sensitive subject.
The summing up of the programme by Dr.Madhav Kaushik, litereteur and Vice President of the National Academy of Literature who shared many thoughts about the partition enabled all of us to empathise with the partition and its realities. We may have hear many stories but interaction with the unsung heroes brought us face to face with many unknown facts.
Dr. Chandr Trikha well known writer on the partition shared anecdotes of that era. With scores of people coming back several Indians were at the frorefront offering help the refugees. Sumedhaji's father was one among them. Imagine his shock on going to receive people returning from Pakistan with provisions and food on their arrival and coming across a train full of dead bodies. Can the negative bearings of such emotions ever be wiped out?
Yet one finds that Sardarilal Kataria raises 7 daughters with faith and hope for a new tomorrow. He also instils confidence in them to be equals in a society and contribute to its growth. And they make it possible for mere mortals like us to meet a 100 year old walking with without any human support for the programme. They made it possible for us to hear an 88 year old lady sing a beautiful song which women sang while spinning thread on the Charkha. They made it possible for two octogenerians to share their thoughts of coming back from Pakistan and settling in India without bitterness. They made it possible for me to receive blessings of so many positive human beings.
My heart guilty of having left behind my son during a weekend felt greatful for this experience. I may have spent 48 hours without him but would have been poorer in experience had I not met these people, learnt about them, listened to their thoughts, undergo their emotions. It also made it possible for me to communicate to him about them and not only make him aware of the such intricacies of the freedom movement but also make him richer in thought, realising that we are fortunate to be living happily untouched by that shock, in the comfort of our own homes, having our roots to delve on. That we owe it to these senior citizens, for us to share their timeless experiences with all we know so that the coming generations learn to value them....
1947....seventy years since independence....freedom from the foreign rule....Studied in History at school and maybe by some in colleges.... Remenbered with cliched patrotic songs and functions year after year....and then??? Oblivion....till next year when the day comes again to get on with the routine.
How many of us have understood the pathos of the India's struggle for independence or even thought about the trauma of the partition? How many of us even try to find out what must have transpired during the entire period of the struggle for independence and what all followed during the tumultuous period? What happens when one is able to see, meet and hear senior citizens in their eighties, nineties and even hundred who are victims of the parttion and had to migrate out of Pakistan to India for no fault of theirs, so suddenly for the sake of administrative convenience? Yes see, hear and meet people of that era and undergo a catharsis.
On a bright and pleasant Sunday morning i had the opportunity to attend a function at Kurukshetra in Haryana in honour of those who had come back from Pakistan to India during the partition. Sumedha Kataria, the Deputy Commissioner and DM of Kurukshetra, a colleague during training at the IAS Academy at Mussourie and now my confidante had organised a cosy function at her residence inviting about 40 persons who had come back from Pakistan and settled in India after the partition. The gathering included officials, friends and well-wishers who also got inititated into the past with the screening of 2 beautiful films. One " Gajab ke log" which was a tribute by the Kataria sisters to their parents and the second was a film on people affected by the partition, Yaadein1947 made by Keshav Mahta. As the film.unfolded we could hear many senior citizens sharing their experience of the difficulties during the exodus from Pakistan, the problems of finding their feet in India and settling back again, their anguish of being uprooted from their own homes, the yearning to be back, the pinings for the unruptured past. Their words revelaed the wounds in their heart and the scars in their minds.
What touched our hearts was the never die spirit which each one of them had. It also reflected on the passion and desire of a simple film maker like Keshav to reach out to the few of the golden oldies who may perhaps be the last human link to that era. Sooner or later they would be gone forever and with them their tales and stories. The making of this film is therefore a treasure. The sensitivity with which the film has tackled the subject is touching specially when one of them calls a person at Pakistan to know about his then home. With thoughts curated superbly the film makes people talk and put forth their emotions on this sensitive subject.
The summing up of the programme by Dr.Madhav Kaushik, litereteur and Vice President of the National Academy of Literature who shared many thoughts about the partition enabled all of us to empathise with the partition and its realities. We may have hear many stories but interaction with the unsung heroes brought us face to face with many unknown facts.
Dr. Chandr Trikha well known writer on the partition shared anecdotes of that era. With scores of people coming back several Indians were at the frorefront offering help the refugees. Sumedhaji's father was one among them. Imagine his shock on going to receive people returning from Pakistan with provisions and food on their arrival and coming across a train full of dead bodies. Can the negative bearings of such emotions ever be wiped out?
Yet one finds that Sardarilal Kataria raises 7 daughters with faith and hope for a new tomorrow. He also instils confidence in them to be equals in a society and contribute to its growth. And they make it possible for mere mortals like us to meet a 100 year old walking with without any human support for the programme. They made it possible for us to hear an 88 year old lady sing a beautiful song which women sang while spinning thread on the Charkha. They made it possible for two octogenerians to share their thoughts of coming back from Pakistan and settling in India without bitterness. They made it possible for me to receive blessings of so many positive human beings.
My heart guilty of having left behind my son during a weekend felt greatful for this experience. I may have spent 48 hours without him but would have been poorer in experience had I not met these people, learnt about them, listened to their thoughts, undergo their emotions. It also made it possible for me to communicate to him about them and not only make him aware of the such intricacies of the freedom movement but also make him richer in thought, realising that we are fortunate to be living happily untouched by that shock, in the comfort of our own homes, having our roots to delve on. That we owe it to these senior citizens, for us to share their timeless experiences with all we know so that the coming generations learn to value them....
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